Canada moving toward decriminalizing marijuana
By: Tom Cohen
The Miami Herald, June 3, 2001
TORONTO -- The Friendly Stranger used to be up a narrow stairway in
a back room, a crowded little shop offering water pipes, T-shirts and
other products of the cannabis -- or marijuana -- culture.
Now proprietor Robin Ellins has a prominent storefront on busy Queen
Street and plenty of room to display everything from hempseed oil and
chips to a full line of hemp clothing and elaborate smoking accessories.
The transformation from hidden emporium to thriving commercial venture is
part of Canada's slow but clear shift toward decriminalizing marijuana.
Justice Minister Anne McLellan says the issue should be studied, and a new
parliamentary committee on drug matters will look at decriminalization.
Conservative Party leader Joe Clark is urging the elimination of criminal
penalties for possessing a small amount of pot.
``It's unjust to see someone, because of one decision one night in their
youth, carry the stigma -- to be barred from studying medicine, law,
architecture or other fields where a criminal record could present an
obstacle,'' Clark said last week.
MEDICAL USE
The government has proposed expanding medicinal use of marijuana, and the
Canadian Medical Association Journal recently supported full
decriminalization. Canada's Supreme Court will consider a case this year
that contends criminal charges for the personal use of marijuana violate
constitutional rights.
Making possession and use of small amounts of marijuana a civil offense
instead of a criminal violation would move Canadian policy closer to
attitudes in The Netherlands and away from the United States, its neighbor
and biggest trade partner. That worries U.S. anti-drug activists such as
Robert Maginnis of the Family Research Council. ``It will have a residual
effect in this country of depressing prices and making marijuana more
available,'' he said.
He also knows a shift by Canada would boost the arguments of American
advocates for easing U.S. drug laws. ``We find our allies are piling up on
us and making it more difficult'' to fight drug use, Maginnis said.
Joseph A. Califano Jr., president of the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse at Columbia University, is skeptical about that.
NO U.S. POLICY CHANGE
Califano, a former U.S. secretary of health and human services, said
increasing medical evidence on the harm caused by marijuana makes it
unlikely that a change in Canadian law will affect U.S. policy. ``I don't
think it means much,'' he said.
In April, Canadian Health Minister Allan Rock proposed expanding the
medicinal use of marijuana beyond cancer sufferers now allowed to take the
drug to people with AIDS and other terminal illnesses, severe arthritis,
multiple sclerosis, spinal injuries and epilepsy. By contrast, the U.S.
Supreme Court recently upheld a federal ban on medical marijuana.
Arrest statistics show the disparity in the two nation's approaches.
Richard Garlick of the Canadian Center on Substance Abuse said about
25,000 people were arrested in Canada for simple possession of marijuana
in 1999.
The U.S. figure for that year was 24 times higher, exceeding 600,000, says
the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in Washington.
The U.S. population is about eight times that of Canada's
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